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11/30/11

I have a feeling this post is about to reveal the unhealthy relationship I have with TV.

But this subject has been on my mind lately and I want to discuss it.

That sentence made it sound like this is about to be a serious post. It is nowhere near a serious post. Perhaps a sad post because I watch too much television, but serious? No.

Have you heard of the phenomenon called jumping the shark? It refers to a television series. When a TV show jumps the shark it means that it did something entirely stupid and the show is beyond recovery and viewership begins to decline.

That was my own scientific definition, perhaps I should be a television critic or something.

The term "jump the shark" originated from a Happy Days episode in which "the Fonz" literally jumped over a shark while skiing, which was unrealistic and dumb.

Do you think I'm (more of) a nerd yet?

ANYWAYS, all of that to say, lately I've been thinking about my favorite TV shows and their moments of "jumping the shark".

And I just heard a few people out there say "wow she needs more to think about".

But the reason I've started thinking about this is because I've been watching Friends reruns over and over and there is such a clear difference between the early seasons which were laugh out loud till you cry funny and the later seasons when it got a little, shall we say....lame.

So as I sit in bed watching Friends and eating crackers I try and figure out when it lost it's steam - the moment that it jumped the shark. The only conclusion I can come up with is when Rachel got pregnant. It seems like it started to go downhill after that. What do you think?

Of course there may be some people who think it never jumped the shark.

Shows that I think never jumped the shark?

Dawson's Creek

Friday Night Lights

Reba (yes I went there)

The Wonder Years

Boy Meets World

LOST

I'm sure I could think of more if I sat and thought about it, but I have more important things to think about. (sarcasm intended)

I've also thought about my favorite shows and the moment that I feel they jumped the shark

- Desperate Housewives - I think it occurred when they did the time jump and moved to the future. That was cool at first but then it got weird

- Grey's Anatomy - I've gone back and forth about this one a lot. I think it either happened when Meredith fell in the water and almost drowned and then saw all those dead people, OR when Izzie started seeing her dead fiancé Denny. What is with the dead people Grey's? THIS ISN'T SCIENCE FICTION.

- Mad About You - when they got pregnant

- Beverly Hills 90210 - When Brenda left (yes it went on for many more years after that, this is just my own biased opinion)

Now I'm wondering.....What do you think? Do you agree/disagree? I'm willing to bet there are some people that think that Friends never jumped the shark.

And I know some people think that Lost jumped the shark even though I disagree WHOLEHEARTEDLY.

I get passionate about Lost. And Friday Night Lights.

Well this whole post might be proof that I get passionate about television all together.

So I want to know your thoughts on this matter.

Clearly we have big fish to fry here.

**Reminder** If you haven't entered the Stella and Dot giveaway do so HERE

11/29/11

I've never done giveaways on my blog before. I really had no reason for not doing them other than I just didn't want to mess with them. Which seems a bit silly.

But recently I've been asked to do a couple of giveaways that I am SO excited about and I think will really benefit people for the holiday season.

My first giveaway is today and then I have another big giveaway on Monday so stay tuned!!

I'm so excited about today's giveaway from Stella & Dot hosted by my blog friend Lauren! I LOVE Stella and Dot. I had a party a few years ago and I absolutely love the pieces I got through the party. In fact my stackable rings that I ordered from that party served as my wedding ring when I was pregnant and large and in charge and my normal ring wouldn't fit.

In Lauren's words her description of Stella and Dot:

The Stella & Dot line includes bold, stylish and beautiful boutique style jewelry and accessories at an affordable price. The jewelry is vintage inspired and celebrity coveted and has been seen in InStyle, Real Simple, Lucky, Vogue, O Magazine and more!

You can find everything from statement pieces that dress you up for the evening to casual wear for the afternoon outing to everyday classics for the office. Stella & Dot has something for everyone and is the perfect place to shop for those you love!

Lauren is graciously giving away this beautiful necklace:

I am really jealous of the person who wins this giveaway....this necklace is amazing!

Bib necklaces are all the rage right now as well as statement pearl pieces. I could see this dressed down with jeans and a great black top, or dressed up with a dress like the model is wearing. One lucky reader will win this awesome necklace!

To enter: Visit Lauren's website www.stelladot.com/laurentrain and come back and comment on which piece you would most like to purchase. It's that simple!

And if for some reason you see a piece you just can't live without or something that would make a great Christmas gift there is an open party under MeganTree.

11/28/11

Luke and I have noticed a pattern that has developed lately. For some reason every single Monday night I say I don't feel good and go to sleep early.

I blame it on the fact that I only work Monday through Wednesday afternoon so I have four nights where I allow myself to stay up as late as I want even though I have the same sweet wake up call around 6:15-6:30 every single morning.

So by the time Monday night rolls around after a full day's work I am usually wiped. My week of wild shenanigans has caught up to me.

Today was no exception. After driving home from work and picking up dinner (shame shame I did not cook tonight) it was time to bathe Eli, feed him his dinner, and get in some family play time (while we watched football commentary of course) before Eli went to bed.

Soon after he went to bed I got busy with my to do list. I had several emails to return, lots of housework to be done, Scentsy business to take care of and a dinner to eat.

Part of my "me" time involved doing laundry. I can usually sneak into Eli's room and put his laundry away without him even stirring. Tonight I was softly placing his pajamas in his top drawer when I looked over at his crib and realized he was sitting straight up staring directly at me.

It might have been the freakiest thing that has happened to me in a long time.

I tried to sneak out, thinking maybe he wasn't fully awake, or perhaps he was sit-sleeping? Or maybe he would think it was all a dream and drift back to sleep.

But of course it didn't happen, he started screaming. I'm sure he was confused as all get out. I was just in his room, he probably thought I was coming to get him.

I let him cry for a bit but there was no doubt that he was not going back to sleep, so I went back in there scooped him up and started rocking him.

Immediately I started thinking of all the things I needed to be doing. This was using up the precious little time I have each evening to take care of 1200 things before my head hits the pillow.

And then I stopped my thoughts dead in their tracks. Was I seriously getting grumpy about spending more time with my baby? I was holding a sweet baby who in that moment only wanted to be comforted by me. How could I even for a second not savor every minute of this?

Yes at the moment it seemed like an inconvenience but I decided to use the moment. In the hustle and bustle of everything I rarely have moments of being still and quiet. I just took it in. Rocking my baby, using the quiet time to pray, thanking God for so much, and seeking his guidance in so much.

Pretty soon Eli was asleep but I stayed there, just rocking him, listening to the rhythm of his breathing and taking in his sweet, clean baby smells.

I started to think about how this seemed like an inconvenience but was really a blessing in disguise to spend some quiet time. And then I remembered that this time last year we were preparing for what seemed like a little inconvenience.

When we got pregnant we were 2 years into our "5 year plan". Oh how I thank God everyday that he knows what is best for us. At the moment nothing made sense. We did not feel ready for a baby in any sense of the form. Yet we were. We sought Him and He prepared us.

How thankful I am.

God uses inconvenience everyday.

Tonight I am extremely thankful for the opportunity to rock my baby back to sleep. He is growing everyday and sadly he won't always let me rock him. And I don't want to be like that creepy mom from that one book that crawls in her son's room and rocks him when he is asleep and is a grown man. I'm not that crazy. Yet.

And sure enough, after I was done rocking Eli and he was back to sleep everything that seemed so pressing before was still waiting for me and didn't seem so pressing anymore.

Now it's time to go to bed. My pressing matters can wait. I was able to enjoy some unscheduled time with my baby and my God tonight and that was worth every lost "scheduled" moment.

11/27/11

There is something about holidays that makes me forget to take out my camera and get some great pictures.

I have about 2000 pictures of Eli with dried baby food all over his face wearing a dirty onesie and mismatched pants.

But take a day where he is looking all cute in his holiday outfit and Luke and I are dressed and look nice and we are surrounded by family, and I completely forget to take out my camera.

But don't worry I do have my trusty phone pictures.

Our Thanksgiving week started off with these beautiful flowers that Luke brought me home, just to say he was thankful for me. I'm beyond thankful for that man. Flowers or no flowers. Thursday I dressed Eli in one of his adorable Thanksgiving shirts from Lulu McGee and we watched the Thanksgiving parade. He slept through most of it, while I enjoyed the awful lip syncing (has it always been that bad?) and the floats that seem to be less and less each year.

We then hit the road and spent the next few days with family. Just how we like it. Kind of stressful at times but enjoyable almost all of the time.

Friday we went to a football game, Luke thinks it is important that Eli watch football his whole life. I think it doesn't matter if he watches football at EIGHT MONTHS OLD, however its important to Luke (and he brought me flowers this week) so I held in my opinion - which I might add is almost impossible for me to do and took Eli to the football game.

I'm sure he soaked in all the football and is currently running plays through his head as he sleeps.

Can you sense the sarcasm?

I might be a little bitter though because I had a bit of a traumatizing experience. I brought our Baby Bjorn and thought it would be perfect to use at the football game. It was already fitted to my body because I use it a lot during the day, so I told Luke I would just carry Eli in it even though it would be easier for Luke to do it.

That was before I realized we had parked about 2 miles away. Give or take a mile or two.

BUT IT WAS FAR.

I had a 21 pound baby strapped to my front-side trekking through a university campus. I serously felt like a contestant on the Biggest Loser.

If you aren't familiar with the Biggest Loser they strap giant sand bags to the contestants and make them walk across the desert while the people carrying said sand bags look and act like they could pass out at any moment.

Which is obviously JUST LIKE carrying a giant baby in a Baby Bjorn.

Here we are. If I look like I feel like I'm dying its because I DID. I was pretty convinced one of my ribs was cracked. I think it healed on it's own though because it feels fine now.I did learn one thing from this experience. I could never be a contestant on The Amazing Race.

So that was our Thanksgiving. Oh and we ate a lot. I will never get sick of Thanksgiving food. We brought home lots of leftover and I am still eating and enjoying them. Luke is done with it all.

Such a wonderful week. And such a great time to reflect on everything I am thankful for. One thing I'm not thankful for? The Baby Bjorn. I would like to burn it.

11/22/11

1. I have found so many great deals on the internet lately, I have done almost all my Christmas shopping online. I love it.

2. I had to blow up a lot of balloons at work this week. I'm not sure if I've ever shared this but I am afraid of balloons. Those things are terrifying. They could pop in your face without any warning at all. I also hate opening cans of biscuits or anything that POPS. It's too much for me to handle.

3. As much as I don't want Eli to grow up fast, I'm excited about him being old enough to do the Elf on a Shelf tradition. I have already tried to think of places to put that Elf, I have some good ideas!

4. Last week I made a recipe that I found on Pinterest for the first time. It was Salsa Chicken. It was really good and something I will add to our rotation.

5. Lately, Luke has started talking about how he really wants to put a deck on our back porch so for his Christmas present his dad came and built one for us. I am in love with it! It turned out so great! It will be so nice to have when the weather gets warmer. He did a really great job!

6. I absolutely love that Friends comes on Nick at Nite now. Yes it makes me feel old but I could watch this show 24 hours a day and be just fine. It never gets old. I especially love watching the episodes from the early years.

7. Our Christmas tree is up and so far Eli doesn't care at all. We even put a tree in his room and he doesn't bother it at all. I thought he would try and pull the trees down but he shows no interest.

8. I plan on going shopping on Black Friday. I think it is so fun. I'm one of those weird people that enjoys the hustle and bustle of that day. People can be crazy, yes, but it's fun to sit back and watch the crazies.

9. I am loving Luke being on a teacher's schedule. It is so nice that he has the built in school breaks. I know he enjoys it also.

10. I am really craving pigs in the blanket. I think I will make those tomorrow. They will make a great pre-thanksgiving meal.

11/21/11

I tried taking pictures the other day and it is getting harder the older he gets. Don't get me wrong it is getting so FUN the older he gets. I spend the whole time cracking up. He is moving, moving, moving and never wants to sit still.

Here are some pictures from our monthly photo session. He fell off the chair twice and I caught him in mid air. Just some of my stellar mom moves.

Eli is in size 3 diapers and wears 6-12 month clothes.

He is a big eater and is extremely active.

He crawls everywhere and is into everything.

He is still a great sleeper at night. He goes to bed around 7:30 and wakes up around 6:00 or 6:30.

He "talks" all the time. Well yells at us. If we do something he doesn't like he definitely lets us have it with his voice.

He is the happiest most laid back baby. EVERYBODY comments on how laid back and "chill" he is. I like to say he gets this from me, when we all know it is straight from Luke.

Eli's favorite thing has always been watching his dad play the guitar, and I've figured out when he is fussy it is the best thing to get him happy again. He loves to "play" it.

11/20/11

There were a few moments where I actually thought I wasn't going to survive and it was time for me to go over my last will and testaments. Or is it testament? Not to be confused with Testamints the christian mint complete with a scripture with each mint.

Then I remembered I don't have anything worth anything so there is no need for a will or testament. However after my bout with the stomach virus I could have used a Testamint.

Since it is November, the month of thankfulness, I need to take this moment to say that I am thankful for my husband and his willingness to live out the fruits of the spirit in his life. God bless him for practicing, peace, love, faithfulness, self control, joy, and peace when I was convinced I would not survive the stomach bug.

It was rough but luckily I got better just in time to go see Breaking Dawn with two dear friends.

We are familiar with the quality of the films in the Twilight franchise so we knew what to expect going into the movie.

It met every expectation we had and we left discussing scenes that were not supposed to be funny that were hilarious and our thoughts on corny and sometimes uncomfortable moments in the movie.

And we all agreed we would be in line together for the next movie on opening night (well not at midnight but the next night, so I guess 2nd opening night). It's just how we roll.

We are all busy gals and live in different towns so we will gladly take a girl's night sitting on a theater floor for several hours in line just to see a vampire, werewolf and one annoying girl.

I wasn't kidding about sitting on the theater floor:

Also I'm glad I was better before the weekend because we spent Saturday eating Thanksgiving food with my family and I am NOT HAPPY if I don't get to eat Thanksgiving food.

Cheesy potatos? Please and thank you.

Eli's CeCe (my mom) got Eli and his cousin matching outfits for the day. I have to say they looked awfully cute:

It was such a fun day with family. The weather was beautiful and we just hung outside the whole time (when we weren't eating).

We even had a sister photoshoot:

I'm the oldest sister I never stop bossing and "fixing". I'm not sure what I was doing here but it was probably bossing or "fixing" something:

What a fun weekend!

So glad I beat the stomach bug 2011 just in time to enjoy it all. And a special big thanks to these boys for taking extra good care of me!

11/15/11

When Luke and I first got married everybody told us how your selfishness has to go out the door after you get married and how we would now learn what it means to truly sacrifice yourself for someone else.

While I agree with that, I don't think it is ANYTHING compared to the sacrifice that comes from having a baby.

Forget the words I, Me, Myself, you won't use them very often anymore. And with a good reason.

If you aren't careful your life can become totally wrapped up in that little lovebug. When you look at your child you are met with a love that you never knew you had. A love that you can't even really comprehend. And with something so big, also comes the responsibility.

No longer is your time your own, no longer can your spouse give you all their attention, no longer do you get to get to decide when you sleep and when you wake up. For awhile you are at the beck and call of your tiny baby. Your world.

And that means even when you are sick, your life is still not your own. You still have a tiny person to tend to, making sure they are fed, played with and protected.

Currently I am sick. I woke up not feeling well but was convinced it was due to a new medication I started and took late at night with no food on my stomach. But late in the day when I still felt bad I realized it was not the medicine. And then I was down for the count.

I was able to leave work and come home to get some rest, but there was one job waiting for me that never ends, regardless of my health status; mommy.

Luke had several plans scheduled for tonight that he needed to fulfill (we are big sticklers with following through with our commitments as much as humanly possible) so we decided I could tough it out at home with Eli even though I felt like death.

First I tried explaining to Eli that mommy was sick and he needed to fend for himself for the night. He just leaned his head back and laughed his new laugh that can make any sick mommy smile until her cheeks hurt.

I then tried to give Eli my all but it was hard, I eventually ended up laying down on the floor and let him crawl all over me.

Half of my hair was pulled out but it proved to be effective parenting while sick.

Parenting while sick. Something you don't think about when you are bouncing around with glee during the second trimester, when your hair is perfect and you are in the middle of planning the nursery to a perfect point and ensuring that you have the cutest going home outfit for your baby.

I'm sure there will be other days in the future when I am sick and I'm alone with Eli, but hopefully he will be at the age where I can turn on the TV and let him enjoy the mindless game of television watching. I kid I kid.

Luke got home just after Eli went to bed. He came bearing saltine cracker and orange juice, which at the time seemed appealing but don't seem to be sitting very well now.

Here's to hoping I feel better in the morning. I'm a whiny sick person. Almost as bad as a man.

11/13/11

This is one of the posts that I was talking about when I wrote this post. I want to blog family events for memory's sake, but I know it will be boring to everyone else.

And I promise I won't give that disclaimer before every post.

This weekend was one of the weekends that I look forward to all year. It was the weekend of our annual "college friends get together". It has become something that we do every year and I hope we continue it for many more years. And of course I have to blog about it every year. 2010, 2009 and 2008.

We usually get together in December but this year we decided to plan it in November. We spent the whole day laughing, talking, eating, laughing some more, attempting to do Cart Wheels in the backyard (these are becoming harder the older we get, we had to make sure we could still do them), playing with babies, eating and just plain having fun.

Every year the biggest challenge of the day is figuring out a good spot to stand for our group. We need to be able to prop the camera in a good place and someone needs to be the person who pushes the button and runs to the group. A daunting task.

The group picture:

And what was once the "girls" picture has now been renamed the "girls and kids" picture:

This time last year Jodi and I were in our 2nd trimester and 26 weeks preggo. Now we have two sweet babies, so naturally we decided to make sure that they wore matching shirts for the occasion.

We both ordered from Lulu McGee and were beyond impressed with the customer service and quality of the shirts. It's a story for another day.

Our little turkeys:

This picture seriously cracks us up. I had to call Jodi the second I saw it. Our favorite part is Eli's hand on Halle's leg and Halle's look on her face like "please help me" but don't they look so cute in their shirts??

Eli in his shirt:

Every year at the end of the day I wish that we could all get together more often but we are all spread out and all have lots of things going on that keep us busy. Plus getting together like this makes it that much more special!

I still vote that we have a summer get together....maybe even at the beach. That sounds nice!

11/10/11

The other day Luke and I were in the car and I was telling him a story about Eli. I honestly can't even remember what the story was about or what had happened, which doesn't really matter at this point.

I ended the story by saying "which probably means I'm the worst mother in the world". Luke then asked me why I always referred to myself as the worst mom when in actuality I was a great mother.

I just shrugged his question off at that moment as another one of Luke's "annoying" questions, but it has weighed heavily on my mind and heart since that day.

Becoming a mother this year has been one of the most natural things I have ever done. Yes there were moments at first when I thought "WHAT HAVE WE DONE??" but for the most part becoming a mother was the easiest thing I have ever done.

I try not to let the little things stress me out, I try not to worry too much about if I'm doing the right thing or if Eli is doing what every other baby his age is doing. We are both individuals and our journey as mom and baby is our own, I do not want to compare.

But on that same note I always automatically assume I am a bad mom. It seems so contradictory to the above paragraph but somehow I have meshed the two together. I am confident yet insecure. I have peace yet I worry about how I am as a mom. I doubt myself yet I feel certain that I am doing what is best for my baby.

It seems like there is always one thing at the moment that I use to define whether I am a good mom or bad mom.

I remember the moment I realized that if I didn't get Eli clean nobody else (with the exception of Luke) would do it. I then started having anxiety attacks about getting his belly button clean.

I even asked the dr. what the best and most thorough way to clean a baby's belly button was, he thought it was hilarious. Why do dr.'s always think I'm funny? I'm serious.

So to answer to Luke's question, the answer is because I try and measure whether I'm a good mom or bad mom by how clean my child's belly button is.

Well maybe not just his belly button but I measure the good vs. bad mom debate by things that don't really matter. Yes it is important for Eli to have a clean belly button, but if I forget to clean it one day I am not automatically the worst mom ever. I allow the little things to define who I am as a mother instead of the big things that really matter. Such as my love for Eli and the guidance I am giving him.

So I have made it my goal to quit calling myself a bad mom. I have gotten into the habit of doing it a lot and I no longer want to say those words. They are unnecessary and as hard as it is for me to admit this they are not true.

I am a good mom.

Before becoming a mother I never could have imagined how much insecurity can plague a new mom. But I no longer want to let the lies rob me of believing that I am a good mom. Each time I have a "bad mom lie" come into my mind I have vowed to combat it with the truth. I am thankful for a husband that reminded me of this.

Now please excuse me, I'm off to google how to properly clean a belly button. Eli and I come from a long line of the deepest belly buttons ever. Both a blessing and a curse.

11/9/11

Because I work Monday through Wednesday I reserve Thursday and Friday for cleaning. So that means I don't do any housework at the beginning of the week.

This may need to change soon because a messy home (and car) stresses me out internally. I think I need to come up with some sort of cleaning schedule to keep me on track so that I don't get so stressed out about it.

All of that to say, due to the fact that I had bunco at my house last night my house was already semi clean. So now I get to enjoy Wednesday through Friday with zero cleaning. Glory hallelujah!

Lately Eli has become very interested in his hands. He will just sit and stare at them for a minute or so. It is the cutest thing, I wish I knew what he was thinking.

Today I put him in his crib and he fussed for a minute (he always has trouble napping on Wednesday afternoons, it is strange) and then it was quiet. I looked at the video monitor assuming he was asleep only to find him staring intently at his hands:

Who needs sleep when you have hands to look at?!?!

Luke had his bible study tonight so it was just Eli and I hanging out at home. He was a bit fussy, I think maybe he is teething. I was trying to entertain him before bed while watching the CMA's, but instead of playing with his toys he was very enthralled in the awards show.

He sat and watched it until the commercial break, then played with his toys and then started watching again after the commercial break. It was hilarious.

So that was our day. Looking forward to another relaxing day tomorrow!

11/8/11

1. Well there is no way I can start this post without first thanking each person that commented on my post yesterday. I feel like everyone that commented understood where I was coming from and what I was saying. I don't plan to end my blog anytime soon as I love doing it too much to end it. And the comments from yesterday helped to remind me why I blog.

Seriously, thank you to everybody who commented. Your words meant a lot to me. And it was nice to meet so many of you who commented for the first time! I'm sure I will go back and read those comments from time to time.

2. For the past month or so my friend Katie and I have been organizing a bunko group. Our group met for the first time tonight and it was a great success! I meant to take a picture but I got so caught up in all the dice rolling (and food eating) that I forgot to take one. I can't wait for our next Bunko party! And I am SO glad to finally have a bunko group to call my own!

3. It is November which means it is time to start Christmas shopping!! I've said it before but it is true - Scentsy makes the perfect gift for anyone!

This month I'm offering a special - everybody who places an order through my website will be entered into a drawing for a FREE plug in of their choice

11/7/11

This post is going to be a bit hard to put into words but I'm going to try my best to do it.

For the past couple of months now I have toyed around with the idea of shutting down my blog or just making it private.

When I first started my blog I wanted people to read it, I wanted to be known by other bloggers and wanted to get comments. I remember my first comment from a "stranger" in the blog world made me so excited I was close to jumping up and down yelling "SOMEBODY READS MY BLOG!!!!!!!!!!" I couldn't believe it.

Overtime, through the transitions of life, my blog turned into a place where I came to post stories of nonsense from our first days as a married couple. I don't even know what I would write about. Sometimes it was simply stories of us watching American Idol but somehow I made it into a post and people commented on it. Go figure.

My life has transitioned throughout the years and I have continued to blog and continued to tell the stories of our life. And somewhere along the line that same person who was so excited that people read her blog suddenly didn't care at all if anybody read that same blog.

Lately I have lost that desire to write. I feel like my blog has become a double edged sword.

So many people from my real life read my blog. Which at times is great. For example when I am sharing stories of Eli's growth and progress it's awesome that I have a place where I am able to communicate all of this information.

But on the same hand, I also like to come on here and journal about situations in my life or thoughts that are going on in my head, which is hard knowing that so many people in my life read this. I sometimes think, "why do they get to know the inner workings of my mind and I don't get to know theirs?" I make myself vulnerable to them, yet they have the option to stay closed off to me.

It's hard. But as my wise husband reminds me, I make the chioce to open myself up. Which is why I've thought long and hard about why I blog and if I really want to continue.

I've been thinking about it for awhile now and It has even prompted some other posts I've written recently here when I didn't yet have the "guts" to write out these actual words that I'm writing today.

As my life has transitioned I have found it hard for my blog to transition along with my life. I don't want to be stereotyped as a "mom blogger" yet I do want to blog stories about my baby and what he is doing.

I do want to come on my blog and write about boring details from our weekend simply for our own memory but then I think "I don't want people to think that I think they actually care about this". Which sounds SO WEIRD, but it goes through my mind.

I always strive to be an authentic person. I don't want to wear masks in my life. I want to be the same person on here that I am at church, that I am at work, that I am when I'm at home and that I am when with friends. And so far I think I've done a good job, but lately I've started over thinking it and it takes away the authenticity.

Plus, I've always been an open person and I've always found myself getting frustrated because so many times I share all that I am with people only to half a piece of them in return. It's just the price I pay for being such a loud mouth. :-)

I really have no idea if any of this makes sense, but these are thoughts that have been stirring around in my head. I will continue to blog and I will try to stop thinking about it so much.

Basically I'm just saying that I want this blog to be about my life, I don't want to try and come up with posts that I think others want to read just to keep readers, and I also don't want to censor what I say because I think people won't want to read it. I just want to be me and be authentic.

11/6/11

This time of the year is always so busy for us and this year has been no exception. I love being busy and having plans set, but I also love a good weekend at home with nothing to do and no place to go. I'm sure one will come along soon. In the meantime we will go, go, go like usual!

This past weekend Luke was in the wedding of his best friend Will.

Thursday morning we had the wedding rehearsal followed by a beautiful luncheon with yummy food. I'm a fan of anything that has yummy food.

Luke was busy with wedding events the whole weekend so I spent my time hanging out with my grandparents. I love that Eli gets to hang with his great-grandparents. They were so helpful to keep Eli for us while we went to various wedding festivities throughout the weekend.

The wedding was Saturday night and was so beautiful and was perfectly unique to the couple. I love a wedding that fits the couple to a T and doesn't feel stuffy or forced. And most importantly a wedding where you can feel that God is truly going to be the center of that marriage.

I love going to weddings because it always reminds me of the vows I made on my wedding day. It is so easy to get caught up in life and the day ins and outs and forget why you got married or what your purpose is as a couple, weddings like the one yesterday are a great reminder of all those things.

11/3/11

1. A friend recently introduced me to the best snack ever. Cheez-it snack mix. I like to get the double cheese box. I'm ashamed to say I bought a box today at noon and it's almost gone. I will finish it tonight. It's that good.

2. I took the advic of many and started watching Revenge. Everyone was right it is good. I could see it being one of those shows that goes downhill quick though. But I like it.

3. Dang #2 was pretty negative. Or was it real? Have you ever heard a negative person say they are just a realist? The great debate...

4. What is the deal with all the "national day of's" lately? Every time I turn around its the national day of something; donuts, cereal, air your tire up day. It's weird. I'm guessing these days have always been around but now with the invention of social media we are made aware of them

5. Eli is full on crawling and has been for about a week now. He gets faster everyday. I'm really bad about recording his milestones. I need to get better about it.

6. I've really been craving a trip to Disney World lately. I love that place.

7. I'm a total nerd and I want the entire Harry Potter movie set for Christmas. Like its my #1 gift request. I'm an easy to please girl.

8. I've had a pile of clothes on my floor for about a month now that need to be hand washed. How long do you think it will be before I finally just throw them in the washing machine?

9. This post was typed from my phone. I can guarantee there are mistakes.

10. I want a date night with my husband and soon! I took those forgranted before we had a child.

Partially because I thought they were cute and partially because I'm in love with baby feet these days. I tend to think that my sweet Eli has the cutest baby feet I've ever seen.

After seeing those cookies I knew I wanted to incorporate baby feet so I ordered some baby feet cookies and cupcakes.

I think they turned out perfect! And they were delicious!

We knew we wanted to put together a gift card tree for the expectant parents so I looked for gift card trees on pinterst. I'm not sure if I was just searching with the wrong words or what but there was nothing on pinterst. NADA.

So I went to Hobby Lobby and bought one of those cute pink trees and hung gift cards from it. Thank you Hobby Lobby for putting your Christmas products out in July, it served useful this year.

I think the tree turned out so cute and now the baby girl has her first Christmas tree!

I wanted something fun for people to do while eating but I also wanted to accomodate the people who do not like to play games so I printed out various baby word games and put them at each person's spot at the table. That way people could work quietly on their own, or loudly if they so chose. I'm usually in the loud group.

My favorite game was the "name the baby animals" game which seemed to be a favorite among the group also.

It was a fun time and I'm glad we were able to help the expectant parents. I'm still using gift cards from when Eli was born and I am so thankful for them each and every time I use one!

Tonight I had big plans to do laundry and tidy up around the house but somehow I found myself on the couch with this masterpiece:

11/1/11

Back in January when I was pregnant with Eli I got in a car wreck while driving down the highway.

It was so scary but thankfully both Eli and I were just fine. My car on the other hand was not and was totaled. It was a bad wreck.

Since that date I have developed a sort of fear of driving.

I still drive, and most days I'm fine, but there are times where I can picture the wreck all over again in my mind and I suddenly become convinced that every single car on the road next to me has one goal and that is to crash into me.

The person that wrecked into me was behind me and came into my lane. So now if a car is next to me on the road - which by the way happens A LOT while driving I get sick thinking they are going to come into my lane.

It's very unfortunate because I have become the world's worst passenger seat driver ever. I have actually embarrassed myself while riding in the car with friends because they were simply driving down the road minding and their own business and I suddenly jumped out of my seat because I thought the car next to us, who was also going straight, was going to wreck into us.

When I have my spells where I freak out in the passenger seat Luke compares it to a cat trying to claw itself out of the car. I'm a delicate flower what can I say.

Has anybody else ever experienced this? How long does it last? I need it to go away!!

I think I have some sort of post traumatic stress disorder from my wreck and I am ready for it to go away. And so is Luke. And anybody else that I ride in the car with.

Moral of the story, don't ride in a car with me until I get this mess figured out. Unless you like riding around with cats trying to claw themselves out of cars.